finishing the top

One of the least sexy things about construction are the details around a floor. They also happen to be amongst the most important, especially when that floor is in charge of getting rid of stormwater off of your building, and protecting the building from water penetration, corrosion, and deterioration.

Here is the finished inside of the 3rd floor utility room. Breezeblock has been installed throughout for ventilation.

Exterior of the utility room and bathroom. Here you can see the tar that is being torched down on the rooftop.

These pictures are out of sequence, but here you can see Tacho perfecting the drainage slope of the final concrete. It is on top of a wire mesh, which is on top of a membrane, which is on top of the tar.

Here is the rooftop prior to the pour. The orange tubes are electrical power for the palapa that will be installed later.

Here is the top floor with the tar and membrane installed. The boxed out area on the right is the top of the light tunnel. It is covered for the moment while plumbing and drainage is complete.

Here the pour and concrete finishing is taking place. They have to move pretty quickly, as a tropical storm will be brushing by in a few days.

more tar and paper.

The tar and paper project. This is the entrance to the 3rd floor bathroom.

fish gates, top rails, and finishing stucco

I've been tardy in posting, but a bunch of pictures have rolled in recently. Our builder Jésus has completed the top floor pour and wrapped up construction on the building exterior until we return later in the fall to oversee the internal work. Let's check it out...

the gates are complete! Here is the golf cart parking/auxilliary gate. Rob's fish design turned out pretty well, although I'm not sure if they still look like dorado as planned. It doesn't matter though, they're still really cool. Silvario did a great job manufacturing them. This same fish pattern will also be present in the stairwell railings leading up to the second and third floors. It's a nice detail, I think.

Here are the 'fish gates' from the inside looking outwards. they will be painted black and finished with an epoxy coating to keep them low maintenance.

Here is the passage gate, also with the fish pattern. I kinda think that the ones pointing downwards look a bit like pineapples. Instead of 'Casa Dorada', we might be 'Casa Piña'.

And a view of both gates together from the outside. The sidewalk in front of our house will be reconstructed, including storm drainage pipes that will go right to the curb. 

The teja (tile) on the 'eyebrows' above the first and second floors has been installed. This is on the front of the house, facing the street. Ours is the only concrete street in town, making it a high traffic location. As evidenced by the none traffic. Hey, small town.

Here, the glass block has been installed on the east side of the building. This glass block faces into a light tunnel that runs the height of the building, bringing natural light into the bathrooms and living area.

Here is the completed stucco work on the east side, bordering our neighbour Ramona. We promised to finish this side of the wall for her so that it would look nice. She also got a tree trim out of the deal, which opened up our views. win win.

Here's the southwest corner of the house. Workers complete the top rail.

Here's the west side, including the new railings and the new opening created on the 2nd floor west side. That balcony will be one of the best places to hang out, I think. The stucco work looks great- I've always been a fan of the way it can be used to soften hard concrete corners.

final pour of the construction for now, which is the concrete up to the garden area.

the top rail pour and finishing of the railings had been completed. They'll offer a nice design and colour detail. This is on the third floor looking west towards the ocean. You can also see the construction next door- Ramona is adding another bungalow on top of her existing house.

another top rail picture

Another top rail picture, and the water guy making his deliveries in the street.

yet another top rail pic. I included this one because it gives a sense both of the closeness and one of the views of the ocean that are available. Two blocks and your feet are in the sand.